The Valley court and jerseys were back in Phoenix, and boy, were they beautiful. The only thing that was equally as beautiful was the final score.
It was the second night of a back-to-back for the Suns,
and they didn’t show it one bit. They led by as many as 46 points and outshot Indiana by 21% in the game. It was a beatdown nearly from wire to wire, with the Suns in complete control despite Indiana’s fast pace early on.
Devin Booker was sensational, pouring in 33 points and 7 assists in just 29 minutes on 12-22 shooting. Dillon Brooks also chipped in with a season-high 32 points of his own on 12-18 shooting. Oso Ighodaro had his best game of the season, adding 17 points and 7 rebounds with 3 blocks and 2 steals in 26 minutes. He was a team-high +52 tonight. No, that is not a typo. PLUS 52!
It was a chippy game throughout, with Dillon Brooks instigating and getting under the skin of the entire Indiana team, per usual. Unfortunately each team lost a player for a to be determined amount of time with Grayson Allen and Aaron Nesmith both exiting with injuries.
Game Flow
First Half
Phoenix got off to a shaky start defensively, allowing 11 points in the first 3:30, trailing the Pacers 11-8. Indiana played at their typical frantic pace.
Dillon Brooks picked Pascal Siakam as his “victim” for mind games early on in this one. He (Brooks) had 7 early points on 3-4 shooting to jumpstart the offense. And Grayson continued to do Grayson things.
Dillon Brooks continued the hot shooting, pouring in 12 points in the opening 9 minutes.
Then, Things started getting spicy. He and T.J. McConnell got into it with Brooks, leading to double-technicals. A Collin Gillespie jumper made it 24-21 with 2:30 remaining in the opening quarter, followed by an Indy timeout.
Phoenix held the Pacers scoreless for a ~3:20 stretch, allowing them to balloon their lead to double figures. An 11-2 run powered Phoenix to a 31-23 lead after the opening quarter.
Jordan Goodwin and Oso Ighodaro injected some chaos and energy on the defensive end and had a couple of nice offensive moments.
Ighodaro had himself quite the sequence with a steal, block, and a strong finish at the rim early on.
Things continued to get chippy, with Pascal Siakam and Royce O’Neale getting into a light shoving match after a hard foul on Siakam.
Dillon Brooks continued his hot start midway through the second, propelling the Suns to a 15-point lead after a tough off-balance floater.
It is worth noting that Grayson Allen left the game in the second quarter after limping following a drive to the rim, which appeared to be him taking a knee to the thigh. He didn’t return in the half, or the game for that matter.
A quick 7-0 Pacers run cut the lead down to eight, 48-40, with just over 5:30 remaining in the half. Brooks was on an absolute heater, pouring in 24 points on 13 shots in the opening half.
After a chippy, scrappy opening 24 minutes, the Suns led 70-52. Brooks had 24, Booker had 17, and Allen had 12 at the half.
Second Half
The Suns started the second half with Collin Gillespie taking Grayson Allen’s spot in the starting lineup after he exited due to a quad contusion.
The Pacers fought back to cut the lead down to 11 after a scary injury to Aaron Nesmith left them even more shorthanded than they already were.
Nick Richards was active early in the period, with some standout defensive plays and drew some calls at the rim to get to the line.
The Pacers continued their frantic pace and did not let their foot off the gas pedal, fighting back to within 11 points after leading by as many as 20 points.
Phoenix quickly answered with a 7-0 run to push the lead back to 18 with 2:38 left in the 3rd, leading to a Pacers timeout. Devin Booker started to completely take over, going on a vintage Devin Booker heater towards the end of the 3rd quarter.
Phoenix led 106-84 after three quarter. Booker had 33, Brooks had 26.
The Suns’ broadcast feed cut out entirely in the 4th quarter for a few minutes, so I won’t write much about what we all missed there. Apparently Brooks scored another 5 points and Gillespie drilled a three during that stretch.
It was the Oso show to close it out, as the Suns continued their beatdown of Indiana and the benches were emptied.
The rookies got some run in the end, but it was just mostly your typical sloppy garbage time minutes. Suns got the win again, and man did they look connected doing it.
Up Next
Phoenix gets a much-needed two days off before hosting the Atlanta Hawks in downtown Phoenix.
